Planograph co



F. LAUBACH. TRACKER BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2. I9l6.

1,317,201 Patented Sept. 30, 1919.

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F. LAUBACH. TRACKER BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2. I916,-

1,3 1 7,201. Patented Sept. 30, 1919.

I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- *0 x i MN I: x \V y I a 5w 2 a)? Z MJQQ Wihwoo e0 UNITED sTATEs rAT NToFF cE;

FRANZ LAuBAcH, 01 OAK PARK, IIQLINoIsAssIGNon ro LYon @H ALY, or cmoneo,

V ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS. a I t l 'rnAoKnnsBoAnn.

To all whom it mar concern:

Be'it known that I, FRANZ LAUBAoH, a

citizen of the United States, residin at Oak 7 Park, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinois, have invented new and'useful Improvements in Tracker-Boards, of which the fOllOWing is as ifi ti .v g V The invention relates to a trackerboard for player pianos, and more particularly 'to the class of automatically adjustable double tracker boardsfor this type of musical instruments. l i

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a tracker board of this character wherein with the use of a peculiar form of perforated music sheet the player-piano will be played mechanicallywhen the sheet travels in either direction over saidtracker board, which is automatically controlled for this purpose, thereby enabling the playing'of one or more selections of music'during the winding and unwinding of the music roll, the player action being either electrically or mechanically actuated. 7

Another object of the invention is the provision of a tracker board'of this character wherein thecontinuous playing of the instrument may be had by the use of a single.

perforated music roll on the winding and rewinding of the same, thetracker. board being of novel form and-is automatically controlled, thereby obviating the necessity of constantly changing the music roll after the single winding thereof. 1 1" I A further object of he invention is the provision of a tracker board of this character wherein the usual wear and tear upon a music roll isreduced to a minimum, and a be played by the use of a single roll without increasing the length of the perforated sheet.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a tracker board of this char- 7 acter which is extremely simple in construci he exemplified in the following construction,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Paten'tedSept. 30,1919. a licationfiieareb ar 2, 1916; Serial No; 75,821.

and'the scope of-the application or which-' willbe indicated in the appended claims, 3 I In'the drawingsa Y y p p with the invention.

- Fig. 2is-an enlarged sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 3 is a plan view with the front tracker bar removed.

Fig. 4: isa sectional view on'the line 4+4 7 of 7 S ng the front tracker bar inplace. 7 1 y A music: sheet-for use with the tracker board construction.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view showing the I connections to the tracker board.

Similar referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views in the drawings.

. v 5 5 is a fragmentary plan viewof a a The operation ofthe pneumatically operf I ated piano isso well known as notto require illustration or description here, as the pneu-' matics and theoperation form no part of the present invention. However, it is tobe understood that the tracker board construction is to be installed in eithenthe mechanically or automatically operatedplayer piano, 7

or the electrically operated type.

'In carrying the invention into practice there is employed the usual spool frame or I boxinglowhich is mounted within the piano 7 in the ordinary well-known manner, and has journaled therein the lower winding and upperjrewinding spools'll and 12, respectively, which are located at opposite sides of the tracker and are operatively connected longer selection or selections of music may with" the pneumatic motor of the player action, the connections being such that the rewinding reel will travel at the proper speed, and these connections may be of any are located on opposite sides of the center of the said bar, these ducts of each series being closely arranged and areeighty-eightr in number corresponding to the number of notes of the Piano action, and have connected thereto tubes 16 which lead to the pneumatics, (not shown), of the player action. The connections to the pneumatics are such that corresponding notes of the two sections are adjacent the juncture of the two sections,""as clearly shown in Fig: 6.

Formed on the front face ot the barl3 are spaced parallel guide cleats 17 and secured in '-a11y suitable manner to these cleats is a frontti'acker bar 18, which is also provided with independent series of ducts 19 and -20,"respectively, corresponding in number to the respective ducts 1e and 15 for communication therewith, and over this" tracker; bar 18 is adapted to travel the perforated music sheet 21, which isjconstrueted' with independent series of perforations 22 and 23, respectively, arranged in inverse or-' der so that a selection or, selections of music can be played mechanically by the player piano on the winding or rewinding of the music rollin a manner presently described.

Arranged between the guidecleats 17 between the bars 13 and 18 of the tracker is switch'rail or slide 24 which is provided with theindependent series of ducts 25 and26, respectively the ducts 25 "of 'one series beingdesigned totregister with the ducts 14 and 19 in the respective bars 13 and 18 when the ducts 26 are out ofregistration with the ducts 15 and 20 of the said respective bars, and vice versa, according to the direction of travel of the perforated music sheetr'21' so that-a 'jparticular selection of music can be 'continuously' played both on the winding and the rewinding of the music roll, or any igiven number of selections of music can be played during-the reverse travel of the'music sheet, the switch rail or slide being automatically shifted in the" tracker in a manner presently described.

Located without thG'flitIDG or boxing 10 at opposite'sides thereof are pneumatics 27 which have their movable members 28 extended into the path of terminal projections 29 on opposite ends of the rail or slide, andleading to each of these pneumatirs from the main bellows of the player action is a tube 30, these pneumatics being each alternately thrown into connnunication with themain bellows of the player action in any suitable manner as by means of a perforation at each end of the music sheet and a corresponding passage at each end of the tracker board, so that the said pneun'iatics will be actuated at each end of the music sheet for the shifting of the switch rail or slide 24 for alternately closingthe respective series of perforations in the tracker accordingto the direction of travel of the music sheet thereover so that the piano will be automatically played on the winding and rewinding of the perforated music sheet, the said music sheet being alternately wound upon the reel 11 from the reel 12, and rewound upon the latter from the said reel 11 during theautoma-tic playing of the piano, and during the travel of the perforated music sheet over the tracker the instrument will be continuously played both' on the winding and rewinding of the music sheet, the tracker being auton'iatically controlled fronrthe pneumatics 27 which are actuated by the main bellows of the player action.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and manner of op- Ooploaof this patent may ;be obtained for five cents eac h,flby addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

